If we say "We have fellowship with Him," and yet live in darkness, we are lying and not practicing the truth.

If we claim "We are already free from sin," we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in our hearts.

If we claim "We have not sinned," we are making Him a liar, and His message is not in our hearts.

but whoever practices obedience to His message really has a perfect love of God in his heart. By this we can be sure that we are in union with Him:

I write to you, fathers, because you know Him who has existed from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and God's message is always in your hearts, and you have conquered the evil one.

Stop loving the world, or the things that are in the world. If anyone persists in loving the world, there is no love for the Father in his heart,

because everything that is in the world, the things that our lower nature and eyes are longing for, and the proud pretensions of life, do not come from the Father, but from the world;

I write you this with reference to those who are trying to lead you astray,

See what wonderful love the Father has bestowed on us in letting us be called God's children, and that is what we are! This is why the world does not know what we are, because it has never come to know Him.

Dearly beloved, we are now God's children, but what we are going to be has not been unveiled. We know that if it is unveiled, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.

In this way we shall know by experience that we are on the side of the truth, and satisfy our consciences in God's sight,

You are children of God, dear children, and you have conquered these men, because He who is in our hearts is greater than he who is in the world.

They are children of the world; this is why they speak what the world inspires, and why the world listens to them.

We are children of God. Whoever knows God by experience listens to us; whoever is not a child of God does not listen to us. This is the way to distinguish a true spiritual utterance from one that is false.

Our love attains perfection through our having perfect confidence about the day of judgment, because here in this world we are living as He did.

For love to God means this, to practice obedience to His commands, and His commands are not burdensome,

Because there are three that testify to it, the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and the three agree.

Any wrongdoing is sin; and there are sins that do not lead to death.

We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the power of the evil one.

And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us insight to recognize the True One; and we are in union with the True One through His Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.